ADVERTISEMENT.
In Books which are published as Guides to Travellers, Accuracy must ever be regarded as the principal object; the Proprietor therefore deems it incumbent upon him to state the Authorities under which this Itinerary was first published. It might, perhaps, be sufficient to say, that it was brought forward under the sanction of His Majesty's Postmaster General: but he cannot avail himself of such an indulgence without noticing the circumstances which procured him that very honourable patronage.
Having had it in command from the Postmaster General to make a Survey, under the direction of Mr. Hasker, Surveyor and Superintendant of the Mail Coaches, of all the principal Roads throughout the kingdom, for official purposes, the accuracy of which (as required by an Act of Queen Anne, for all Roads measured on account of the General Post Office) Is attested on the oaths of the several Surveyors employed, it was deemed to be a Work of such utility to the Public, that it ought not to be withheld; as, from the precision with which it was executed, much and as the distances on benefit might accrue to the Traveller those Roads were planned from one stationary object to another, it would enable him to determine, beyond dispute, the exact length of his stages.
Extensive as was this Survey, it was nevertheless considered not to embrace the whole of those Roads to which the Traveller might wish occasionally to refer; therefore the Proprietor has, with great industry and care, selected from the County Surveys such other Roads as appeared to him essential, the distances on which, although not regulated by his own Survey, and, of course, not calculated from one stationary mark to another, yet he has every reason to believe are faithful, the whole being verified by the different Postmasters throughout the kingdom, and officially communicated by letter to Francis Freeling, Esq. Secretary to the General Post Office, and Thomas Hasker, Esq. Superintendant of the Mail Coaches, and by them forwarded to the Author. Through the same channel he also received a List of such Inns as supply Post Horses and Carriages (which are added at the end of each Route), Seats, &c. &c.
FIFTH
